Most television viewers now receive their television signals through a content aggregator such as a cable or satellite television provider. In the typical instance, encoded television signals are sent via a cable or wireless data link to the viewer's home, where the signals are ultimately decoded in a set-top box or other consumer device. The decoded signals can then be viewed on a television or other appropriate display as desired by the viewer.
Often, the content aggregator offers various programming options and/or other services that allow different customers to select desired services at a price point that is appropriate for the particular customer. Aggregators typically offer various subscription packages that include different channel selections or other options, and customers are frequently able to supplement their basic subscriptions with add-on services such as pay-per-view programs, premium channels and/or the like. Consumers then pay the content aggregator for received services on a monthly or other basis.
Often, customers have questions regarding the particular programming features available to the consumer, and/or regarding the particular billing associated with such features. To respond to such questions, content aggregators typically provide access to any human operators in a customer service center that are able to respond to questions via telephone, email or other media. While such service centers can be very effective in responding to a variety of customer inquiries for specific information, customer service facilities can be relatively expensive to the aggregator in terms of labor and capital. Moreover, many consumers would prefer an immediate response to simple inquiries that does not involve a call to a service center. That is, some consumers may prefer to quickly identify an answer to a question themselves rather than contacting another person for the answer. Further, the service center model typically waits for the customer to make contact with the service agent; there is no convenient mechanism for automatically and inobtrusively “pushing” information to the customer.
It is therefore desirable to create systems and methods for reducing the number of calls placed to a customer service center. Moreover, it is desirable to create convenient information-providing systems and methods that allow customers to conveniently obtain information about their purchased services, billing and/or the like. These and other desirable features and characteristics will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and this background section.